Spring Break
Moby's Best Coach of the Season - Steve Fairchild
Adam Bohlmeyer
Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: Sports
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In the 17 months Fairchild has been the head of Rams football, he led CSU to their first winning season since 2004, won the New Mexico Bowl and has fans of the green and gold genuinely excited about the future. For all these reasons and more, Fairchild earns the 2009 Moby Award for Coach of the Year.
Fairchild, who came back to CSU after serving as both a player and assistant coach for the Rams in previous years, immediately faced an up-hill battle when he arrived on campus. Not only was he replacing Fort Collins coaching legend Sonny Lubick, but also was inheriting a struggling football team that just completed a 3-9 season. Still Fairchild showed optimism at the opportunity to resurrect CSU football.
After leading the Rams to a 4-6 record at the beginning November 2008, Fairchild rallied his troops and helped the Rams finish the season with three consecutive wins including victories against arch rival Wyoming in the Border War and Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl.
Fairchild didn't rest much after the bowl win, almost immediately hitting the recruiting trail and bringing one of the top recruiting classes in the entire Mountain West Conference to CSU early in 2009.
With all the success he has enjoyed in his first year as head coach, Fairchild is not even close to being satisfied. At the end of the 2009 spring season, the former NFL offensive coordinator took a second to evaluate the progress his team has made.
"It's a lot like last year," Fairchild said. "We have some areas we feel pretty good about, and then we have some areas we still need to improve in. We need to improve in them really quickly."
Football Beat Reporter Adam Bohlmeyer can be reached at news@collegian.com.
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